


Clingy

by Ray_Writes



Series: Tumblr Prompts [31]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Just Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 13:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14955899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: The Doctor and Donna have a little misunderstanding over a certain word.





	Clingy

**Author's Note:**

> Just another little prompt fill for an anon on tumblr. I'll have some longer stuff to post soon as well, just being beta'd (though this short is not). So enjoy this for now!

It took a while for him to notice. The change wasn’t a complete reworking of their everyday behavior, but subtle. Just so subtle that it was over a week into their honeymoon before he’d noticed it.

They’d decided to make a sort of tour of it, seeing as the plan was to spend the rest of their lives traveling together anyway. And there were just so many good destinations he’d been unable to pick just one spot for them to celebrate their recent marriage. They’d gone dancing under a star dome, hiking the Frixop Gap hand in hand, and eaten at all the best restaurants this side of the universe, always with knees brushing under the table or forks being offered to each other to try this or that thing. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d been apart for more than a few minutes.

He and Donna had checked into the honeymoon suite of a five star hotel on the Junna Asteroid, but neither had felt tired enough to turn in, and Donna wanted to have a look round the lounge and possibly the bar. So he’d followed her back down to the main floor like any dutiful husband — only to try unsuccessfully to hide his smile as Donna led them straight over to the settee. The only piece of furniture that accommodated two left in the room.

A waiter zipped over to take their orders, and after he’d gone Donna leaned into his side and let her head fall back to get a proper look at him.

“What are you smiling about?”

He wondered if he ought to reveal his observation, but she was bound to come to the same conclusion eventually. “We’ve become the clingy newlyweds you always complained about.”

Donna’s mouth dropped open. For a long moment, she seemed incapable of making a sound. Then she sat up and away from him.

His grin slipped. “Donna?”

“If I was being  _ clingy _ , you could’ve just said so.” Her whole profile was a hard line.

“No, no, that’s not what I — what have I done now?”

Donna huffed. “Usually when your significant other describes you as  clingy , it’s not meant as a positive attribute. Not in my experience.”

“Your experience?”

“Yeah, well, there’s also nag, harpy, relentless b—”

“Donna.” The Doctor sat up as well, cheated in towards her, and took her hands. “Clingy was not meant as a complaint. I just thought it was funny after everything we’d said about not being a couple, and now here we are.”

“And now I’m clingy despite everything I said before,” Donna sighed. “So you think I’m a hypocrite?”

He shrugged. “Everyone’s a little bit of a hypocrite. And it’s not bad to laugh at ourselves every once in a while.”

Her lips curved up. “Yeah.”

Their waiter returned with their drinks and they thanked him. The Doctor watched Donna for a few moments. She’d settled somewhat, but was still holding herself apart from him unlike when they’d first sat down.

“You know I’d never call you any of those other things, right?” He reached out to tuck some of her hair behind her ear as she looked at him. “That’s not who you are at all.”

“Mind telling my previous boyfriends that?” She joked weakly. Then her gaze dropped back down to her glass. “I suppose I’ve always wanted what those other couples had. The closeness, you know, not having somebody complain I’m crushing them just cos I lean on their shoulder a bit.”

The Doctor had to bite the inside of his cheek to refrain from asking who had said that particular comment to her. Exacting petty revenge on Donna’s past tormentors wasn’t what she needed right now. She needed someone to listen. 

“But I never thought I’d get it, so I told myself those other couples were just being over-the-top. Ridiculous. Clingy.”

“But it was still something you always wanted?”

“Yeah,” she admitted softly.

The Doctor slowly drew an arm around her shoulders, careful not to jostle her and spill her drink, and guided Donna to rest back against his chest. “Me too,” he said in her ear. “And not just while we’re newly-wed.”

She smiled around the rim of her glass and took a sip. “Fine with me, Spaceman.”


End file.
